It is Waitangi day today and this evening Kent and I finally managed, after several failed attempts, to get a wargame in. He's never played Dragon Rampant so thought I'd teach him the rules but alas I'd forgotten most of them. However, we managed to muddle our way through a game, the rules becoming clearer as the game went on.
Apparently the Urak Hai invasion of Carthage happened sometime in the 3rd Age but as no hobbits were present at the battle to report on it, it has since been lost to the annuals of (Middle Earth) history.
Kent used his Carthaginians and I my newly rebased Urak Hai. I built us a couple of 40 point armies with the troops we had available.
Kent's Carthaginians
1x General (elite infantry)
2x Carthaginian veterans (Heavy foot)
2x Spanish scutarii (light foot= short range missiles)
2x Italian hill tribes (Warband)
1x EWlephant (Greater warbeasts)
1x Carthaginian cavalry (Heavy riders)
Craig's Uraki hai
1x leader (Elite inf)
2x Uraki hai (Heavy foot-offensive)
1x Lesser Urak hai (warband)
1x Urak hai crossbows ((Heavy missiles)
1x Warg Riders (light riders)
1x wargs (lesser beasts)
1x Troll (Greater warbeast)
The battle was a bit of a free for all, just trying to relearn the rules. First person to destroy more than half the opposing force won.
The Urak Hai deploy
And from the Carthaginians line
the Urak hai general and the troll prepare for battle
Advance! The troll and elephant surge forward, each aiming to prove that he is the king of the battlefield.
Come on then, bring it on! The troll bounced off the elephant and retreated (the combat was a draw).
The Carthaginians continue to advance
Elephant vs troll take 2. I'll rip yo tusks off and shove them down ya gob!
Alas, by now we'd remembered about command rolls after casualties. The troll failed his roll and left the battle in a bit of a huff. The crossbows got their revenge though and turned the elephant into a very large pin cushion on the next turn.
The Wargs (lesser beasts) charge a unit of Italian hill tribesemen
The Carthaginian veterans continue to plod their way forward.
Getting closer...
Crossbow-orcs and Urak hai clash with the Carthaginians and there are several inconclusive engagements between the heavy infantry units.
The Italian hill tribesemen sense an easy victory vs the crossbows but the orcs retreat in good order- well as good an order as they can being orcs.
The dice indicates three wounds suffered (a mere scratch) and the glass bead that the orcs are disordered so good for sweet F.A.
The Urak hai general charges the Hill tribesemen- 'cos he can.
What happens when you get hit in the flank using the optional unit facing rules? Well apparently your armour value s reduced by one so the warband Urak hai go from Armour 2 to Armour 1c(meaning every successful die equals one wound as opposed to the usual 2:1 vs bellicose foot). Luckily Kent only rolled 3 hits (out of 12 dice needing 4+ per die)
The battle is close, next destroyed unit on either side wins.
And wouldn't you know it. Kent's Spanish light infantry charge a unit of Urak hai heavy foot, cause 2 wounds to one and rout them off the table on a failed courage test.
A good close game and a chance to get to grips with the rules. It plays fast and furious, even with two 40 point armies on the table.
Cheers Kent, I look forward to getting a lot more gaming in this year!
No comments:
Post a Comment